Special 1UPcard review from Pete at 8-bitcentral.com! May 26 2015
Clean Your Game Carts Without Q-Tip Fuzz Or Blowing- Try the 1UPcard Cleaning Kit!
I too fell victim to the notion that blowing on game carts had some sort of positive effect. That was during the NES era. I should have known better. Oxidation woes were nothing new to me as an Atari owner, yet something about that new gray box led me to believe that my pizza-breath had some effect on it's circuitry.
Now and then (and yesterday) I've had to re-insert 2600 carts a few times before the start screen would apear. I never blew on an Atari cart, but that gray box seemed to demand it. The problem is blowing tends to feed part of what causes oxidation in the first place - moisture! Re-inserting the cart simply scuffed off enough crud to make the contacts connect and run the game.
Now and then (and yesterday) I've had to re-insert 2600 carts a few times before the start screen would apear. I never blew on an Atari cart, but that gray box seemed to demand it. The problem is blowing tends to feed part of what causes oxidation in the first place - moisture! Re-inserting the cart simply scuffed off enough crud to make the contacts connect and run the game.
Q-tips seem like a good solution, but they're much better for ears than cleaning video game cartridges. Bits of fuzz always seem to snag on the cart's innards and that can't be good - especially if you're pushing that cart into a ZIF slot that might deposit your renegade fuzz inside the console. Anyway... There has to be a better way.
Adam Stephey, creator of the 1UPcard, has a solution. His solution is 99% isopropyl alcohol (see what I did there?) and a durable polypropylene felt card that applies the alcohol and buffs the cartridge's contacts dry. It works with any game cart and comes with a small bottle of 99% isopropyl alcohol and cleaning card. Check out the video on his site and see if his 1UPcard system seems better than blowing on your game carts.
Adam Stephey, creator of the 1UPcard, has a solution. His solution is 99% isopropyl alcohol (see what I did there?) and a durable polypropylene felt card that applies the alcohol and buffs the cartridge's contacts dry. It works with any game cart and comes with a small bottle of 99% isopropyl alcohol and cleaning card. Check out the video on his site and see if his 1UPcard system seems better than blowing on your game carts.
Clean Your Game Carts Without Q-Tip Fuzz Or Blowing- Try the 1UPcard Cleaning Kit!
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RetroPete is the founder and Editor In Chief of retro gaming website 8-BitCentral.com as well as a freelance writer specializing in custom projects for the web. He has been gaming since the late 1970’s with an avid passion for all things Atari. Additionally, he creates websites, builds skateboard ramps, plays tennis, and preaches the awesomeness of #retroGaming as opposed to yelling into a headset via the Net.Read more: http://www.8-bitcentral.com/blog/2015/1upCard.html#ixzz3bAAFxiZB